Outcome of different treatment mixes in a multidimensional neuropsychological rehabilitation program.

Within a clinical demonstration program, 59 traumatically brain-injured patients were treated with 1 of 3 mixes of treatment. Mix 1 included cognitive remediation (CGR), small-group interpersonal (SGI) communication training, therapeutic community activities, and personal counseling. Mix 2 was similar to Mix 1 but stressed SGI exercises and eliminated CGR. Mix 3 emphasized CGR and eliminated SGI exercises. The efficacy of the treatment mixes was evaluated with performance on neuropsychological tests, improved independence in functional activities, measures of intra- and interpersonal functioning, and vocational outcome. Ss' participation in the program, irrespective of treatment mix, yielded improvements in (1) self-image, (2) quality of interpersonal relatedness and interaction, (3) involvement with others in naturalistic settings, and (4) vocational outcome. Overall, data point to the superiority of the balanced mix (Mix 1) over Mixes 2 and 3. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A web-based formative assessment tool for Masters students: A pilot study

The use of web-based learning and assessment tools is growing in tertiary institutions around the world. To date, very few papers have reported the development and evaluation of a web-based formative assessment tool for postgraduate students. The aim of the present paper was to report on the development and evaluation of an online formative assessment tool for this student group. The web-based formative assessment tool was evaluated by a sample of undergraduate students, postgraduate students and academic staff within a psychology department in order to determine the suitability and sensitivity of the tool. The results of this pilot test suggest that the development of such a tool is both appropriate and feasible for Masters students studying psychology.     

The Applicability of Cognitive Mediational and Moderational Models to Explain Children's Depression Inventory Factor Scores in Urban Youth.

This investigation examined whether cognition serves as a direct factor, mediates, or moderates the relationship between stressful life events and Children's Depression Inventory (CDI; Kovacs, 1992) factor scores in urban, ethnic minority youth. Ninety-eight middle school students completed measures of stressful life events, cognition (cognitive triad and locus of control), and depressive symptoms. Results provided support for both mediating and moderating models of depression. Specifically, the cognitive triad mediated the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptom categories of negative mood, ineffectiveness, and anhedonia, while it interacted with stressful life events to predict negative self-esteem. In addition, locus of control was found to interact with stressful life events to predict anhedonia. Finally, the diathesis-stress model was not supported when predicting the CDI Interpersonal Problems factor score, which taps externalizing behaviors. Implications for school psychology research and practice include the importance of including measures of stressful life events and cognitive styles in assessment of children's social-emotional functioning. In addition, results highlight the need to target children's perceptions for intervention since they appear to play a significant role in psychological reactions to stressors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Study of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cell Wall Glucans

Much research has been carried out over the years examining cell wall glucans from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and this study further examines aspects of the binding of (1r?4)‐α‐D‐glucan in the yeast cell wall, using a number of isolation techniques as well as monoclonal antibodies able to recognize a mixed (1r?4)‐α‐D‐glucan/(1r?6)‐β‐D‐glucan. Extraction of purified glucan, from S. cerevisiae cell wall, with 0.1N HCl, at 80°C for 6 h, released into the solution (1r?4)‐α‐D‐glucan and (1r?6)‐β‐D‐glucan as the major polysaccharides, along with an insoluble pellet highly enriched in (1r?3)‐β‐D‐glucan. The released (1r?4)‐α‐D‐glucan was composed of a high molecular size >100 kDa fraction (7.2% w/w) and a medium 5–50 kDa polysaccharide (10.2% w/w), with the (1r?4)‐α‐D‐glucan covalently bound to the (1r?6)‐β‐D‐glucan. The average molar ratio of the α:β glucan was 47: 53 in this mixed polysaccharide. The structure of this polysaccharide was different from the structure of plant starch or animal glycogen as monoclonal antibodies specific to yeast (1r?4)‐α‐D‐glucan/(1r?6)‐β‐D‐glucan did not recognize the plant starch or animal glycogen standards.     

Thermal [1,3] carbon sigmatropic rearrangements of vinylcyclobutanes

Stereochemical, kinetic, and theory-based studies of the [1,3] carbon sigmatropic rearrangements of bicyclo[2.1.1]hex-2-enes, bicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-enes, and monocyclic vinylcyclobutanes support the judgment that such reactions involve transient diradical structures traversing relatively flat potential energy surfaces.     

Does solitary substance use increase adolescents' risk for poor psychosocial and behavioral outcomes? A 9-year longitudinal study comparing solitary and social users.

This longitudinal study compared Grade 8 solitary cigarette smokers (n = 541), drinkers (n = 577), and marijuana users (n = 148) with adolescents who restricted their use of these substances to social settings (ns = 562, 1,426, and 388, respectively) on adolescent functioning and young adult outcomes. In Grade 8, solitary users held more positive beliefs about the consequences of substance use, earned poorer grades, engaged in more deviant behavior, and devoted less time to school and more time to social activities. By age 23, these solitary users had lower educational attainment, poorer self-rated health, and greater substance use problems. Results indicate the importance of better understanding and addressing the needs of this understudied group of high-risk youth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The metabolism and distribution of docosapentaenoic acid (n−6) in rats and rat hepatocytes

In this study, a new marine oil that contains 45% docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22∶6n−3) and 13% docosapentaenoic acid (DPA, 22∶5n−6) was administered to rats. The metabolism and distribution of DPA in rats was investigated. In experiment 1, the effects of DHA and n−6 fatty acids (linoleic acid, I A; arachidonic acid, AA; and DPA) on AA contents were investigated in vivo. LA group: LA 25%, DHA 30%; LA-DPA group: LA 15%, DPA 10%, DHA 35%; LA-AA-DPA group: LA 10%, AA 5%, DPA 10%, DHA 35% were administered to rats for 4 wk. In the liver, the AA content in the LA-DPA and LA-AA-DPA groups was significantly higher than in the LA group. The decreased AA contents in the LA group might be caused by DHA administration. Although DHA also was administered in the LA-DPA and LA-AA-DPA groups, the AA contents in these two groups did not decrease. These results suggested that DPA retroconverted to AA, blunting the decrease in AA content caused by DHA administration. To conduct a detailed investigation on DPA metabolism and its relation with AA and DHA, rat hepatocytes were cultured with pruified DPA and DHA for 24 h. We discovered the retroconversion of DPA to AA occurred only when AA content was decreased by a high DHA administration; it did not occur when AA content was maintained at a normal level.     

Gender, employment and retirement quality: A life course approach to the differential experiences of men and women.

Using a life course perspective in integrating 2 theories of retirement satisfaction—role theory and continuity theory—this study draws on a sample of retired men (n?=?244) and women (n?=?214), ages 50–72, to investigate factors contributing to the quality of their retirement experience. Overall, we find that men report greater retirement satisfaction than women, although the difference is small. For women, increased retirement quality is associated with good health, a continuous career (fewer years spent in part-time employment), an early retirement (though not earlier than anticipated), and a good postretirement income. For men, the key correlates with retirement quality are good health, an enjoyable preretirement job, low work-role salience, substantial preretirement planning, and retiring for internally motivated reasons (e.g., to do other things). These results underscore the importance of a life course focus on gendered pathways to and through life transitions such as retirement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural relationships between measures based on heart beat intervals: potential for improved risk assessment

Decreased left ventricular ejection fraction is the most commonly used risk factor for identification of patients at high-risk for lethal ventricular arrhythmic events. Twenty-four-hour electrocardiographic (ECG) approaches to risk stratification include: counts of ventricular premature contractions (VPCs), measures of heart rate variability (HRV), and heart rate turbulence (HRT) which has two components, turbulence onset and turbulence slope (TS). Refinement of these ECG risk stratifiers could enhance their clinical utility. We explored the structural relationships between heart rate (HR) and HRV and HRT measures. Our goal was to separate out the component of these measures due to the underlying average heart rate (HR), thus potentially reducing the variability of the measures and increasing their power to stratify risk. We proposed re-scaling tachograms of heart-beat intervals so that the re-scaled tachogram has a HR of 75 (or equivalently an average interval of 800 ms) and calculating HRV and HRT from the rescaled time series. We also explored the relationship between the number of VPCs and HRT. We showed that TS is structurally related to the number of VPCs (and hence to the length of the ECG recording). We proposed an adjusted TS that is independent of the number of VPCs. We also addressed the ability of shorter ECG recording to estimate HRV and HRT measures. We evaluated standard and rescaled HRV and HRT measures using qualifying ambulatory ECG recordings from 744 patients in the Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial. We found that measures based on the rescaled tachogram had reduced variance (20% to 40%). Correlations between measures were also substantially reduced. We also found substantial circadian effects on some, but not all HRV indices, not explained by the circadian pattern in HR and possibly pointing to additional measures for risk prediction. In conclusion, we found that adjusting for HR and the number of VPCs in heart-beat related ambulatory ECG measures has the potential to significantly improve the power of these measures to risk stratify cardiac patients.